Daniele De Rossi claimed Liverpool "constantly went for the long ball" in their Champions League semi-final demolition of Roma - but Reds supporters have hit back with the ultimate response.

Jurgen Klopp's men ran riot at Anfield on Tuesday night, as Mohamed Salah hit the back of the net twice with two first half goals.

The Egyptian turned provider after the break, setting up Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to make it four, before Firmino netted Liverpool's fifth from a corner.

Edin Dzeko and Diego Perotti gave the Italians a lifeline heading back to the Olimpico, but Liverpool exploited Roma's high line to devastating effect in the first leg, and will be favourites to progress to the final.

Daniele De Rossi claimed Liverpool "constantly went for the long ball" (Image: PA)

De Rossi spoke out about Jurgen Klopp's side after the contest, and claimed the Reds reduced themselves to merely going long in order to beat Roma.

"Not having seen the game back, it would be wrong for me to give a tactical view of what happened," De Rossi told Mediaset Premium.

De Rossi evades Georginio Wijnaldum in the first leg at Anfield (Image: Clive Brunskill)

"Liverpool are strong, let's not forget, and they did very well, but we had 20-25 very good minutes at the start.

"They constantly went for the long ball, from any area of the pitch, and it's difficult to cover that space when there are players who are always faster than you.

The Italian closes down James Milner in the Champions League clash (Image: AFP)

"We got the feeling they were going over the midfield completely, so we couldn't intercept the ball."

Now you'd probably expect that many Liverpool fans would hit back angrily, and point out that he made the comments because his side lost.

Mohamed Salah was the star of the show as Liverpool ran riot on Tuesday (Image: Getty Images Europe)

But instead they responded by taking them on the chin; admitting that they did play direct football, and reaped the benfits.

Well, if 'long ball' football is that easy to identify and even easier to stop, then why were Liverpool allowed to score five times on Tuesday night?